VAIVÉN started as a research project to explore the relationship between Camilo Mejía Cortés artistic universe and the universe of salsa. This genre was born as ¨Salsa¨ in New York around 60s-70s but that in fact is a reinterpretation of traditional afro antillean music genres, especially from Cuba that later impacted the city Camilo Mejía Cortés was born in: Cali in Colombia.
During these last years and after the pandemic, questions about Camilo Mejía Cortés experience as an afro colombian artist living in Europe came to the surface. He experienced the consequences of migrating from the place he was born and the rupture from the people and also from the land. Listening to salsa became a way to navigate all these emotions, and a way to revisit places, memories and sounds connected to his place of origin, and on the other side it became a way to create a semi-fictional universe that allowed him to go beyond the limitations of space and time. These sessions marked the beginning of VAIVÉN.
Camilo Mejía Cortés was born in the 90's as the son of Afro-descendant families who migrated out of their territories of origin, in the South Pacific, to the city of Cali in Colombia that has 52% of black people, being the second city after Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil, with the most population of people of African descent in Latin America. The city is well known to be the Capital of Salsa. His first connection with the dance happened when he was just a kid in his grandmother's livingroom with his aunt Luz Dary, who is an incredible self-taught dancer that between laughter taught him how to dance. She was his first reference as a dancer and had a big influence in his connection to salsa.
VAIVÉN as performance takes different forms every time it is shared and it brings a swell of sound, beats, movement, dance, images, landscapes and stories instead of following a simple thread they just offer a whole multidimensional experience.
VAIVÉN started as a research project to explore the relationship between Camilo Mejía Cortés artistic universe and the universe of salsa. This genre was born as ¨Salsa¨ in New York around 60s-70s but that in fact is a reinterpretation of traditional afro antillean music genres, especially from Cuba that later impacted the city Camilo Mejía Cortés was born in: Cali in Colombia.
During these last years and after the pandemic, questions about Camilo Mejía Cortés experience as an afro colombian artist living in Europe came to the surface. He experienced the consequences of migrating from the place he was born and the rupture from the people and also from the land. Listening to salsa became a way to navigate all these emotions, and a way to revisit places, memories and sounds connected to his place of origin, and on the other side it became a way to create a semi-fictional universe that allowed him to go beyond the limitations of space and time. These sessions marked the beginning of VAIVÉN.
Camilo Mejía Cortés was born in the 90's as the son of Afro-descendant families who migrated out of their territories of origin, in the South Pacific, to the city of Cali in Colombia that has 52% of black people, being the second city after Salvador de Bahia, in Brazil, with the most population of people of African descent in Latin America. The city is well known to be the Capital of Salsa. His first connection with the dance happened when he was just a kid in his grandmother's livingroom with his aunt Luz Dary, who is an incredible self-taught dancer that between laughter taught him how to dance. She was his first reference as a dancer and had a big influence in his connection to salsa.
VAIVÉN as performance takes different forms every time it is shared and it brings a swell of sound, beats, movement, dance, images, landscapes and stories instead of following a simple thread they just offer a whole multidimensional experience.
